Page 43 of Doc Hollywood

“And your main house?”

“It’s not massive,” Taylor mumbled, staring at his shoes as they walked.

“Only ten bedrooms and bathrooms?” Clara’s said in a teasing voice.

“No, it’s only five bedrooms,” he muttered.

“And do the five bedrooms include the pool house or is that seven total?” She nudged his shoulder again.

“Seven total.” Taylor sounded embarrassed.

“Ohhhhhh. Have you done an at-home with ‘Taylor Anderson’? Can I see the entire walk through of ‘your beautiful home’ in a magazine? Maybe Hello, or OK?” She began giggling at her own joke, trying to make light of their vastly differing wealth.

But she couldn’t lie to herself; she was jealous of the comfort in his life and knew having money made things a lot easier. Although she was only two years away from achieving that goal for herself—two years, and she would be debt-free and able to start living.

She had already picked out the first place she was going when she did. She was going to fly into Ushuaia and get on an icebreaker to the Antarctic. It had been at the top of her bucket list for a long time, and it gave her a twinge of jealousy when she heard Taylor mention so flippantly that he was going there.

“When I pay off my debts, I’m going to the Antarctic too.” The word slipped out of her mouth.

“Debts from University?” Taylor’s step slowed a little.

“No. Other things,” Clara clammed up.

Taylor quietly asked, “Oh, that’s what you wanted to do with the six hundred dollars? Put it towards some debt?”

Clara’s shoulders pulled in as she muttered, “Yeah. I would have.”

“You got railroaded into that big meal for the others?”

“Yeah. Bloody Mike. And I know him; he’ll make sure every penny of that money is spent. It just felt like a nice bit of luck, you know, you turning up, the whole quiz being about you, and you telling me the name of your dogs.”

“Don’t go next week. Then they can’t spend your money.”

Clara laughed. “That’s a great thought. But then it would just be the following week. I’ve accepted it. The money was never meant to be mine. This whole week has been a weird dream. And the money was a dream.”

“This week has been a dream?”

Clara ignored him, a little embarrassed that she had implied that hanging out with him was dream-like. Luckily, her car saved her from needing to answer his question.

“Right, this is me.” She gestured to the car and turned away from Taylor to put her key in the door.

She felt him standing over her, his warm presence behind her. When she turned back to face him, she took half a step back, surprised at how close he was.

“I’ll pay for the dinner. It’s my fault for suggesting you do something nice,” Taylor offered.

Clara shook her head. “No, you won’t. That’s so kind of you but totally unnecessary.”

“I should—“

Clara cut him off before he could offer again. “Taylor, it’s really fine. Anyway, I should go.”

But she didn’t step backwards, just gazed up at him as he stared down at her, unaware of the chill night air nipping at her.

Taylor’s head moved towards her fractionally, and she froze in surprise. Was he going to kiss her? No, that was ridiculous. Wishful thinking, and if she continued looking at him, she would look like another desperate fan. A groupie who would do anything to get the attention of a famous man. She was such an idiot.

Her eyes dropped, and she turned away from him and back to her car.

She shivered when she felt his warm breath on her neck but continued to ignore him while berating herself for being stupid and reading things into a situation that didn’t exist.

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